From a design perspective, this isn’t your Yutaka Izubuchi’s Sazabi. It’s received a thorough Hajime Katoki design upgrade. Gone are the smooth, bulbous curves of the CCA version, upgraded with larger proportions and more flat angles. Frankly, it looks amazing. I think it’s a better example of a modern take than the ver. Ka Nu Gundam or current RX-78-2. There’s just something stunning about it.

Carrying over from the Nu Gundam and new RX-78-2 redesigns are the use of varying colour shades. This time around there are three different shades of red all over the kit that almost make it look like a patchwork creation. In most areas is looks great but there are a few that I feel could have been tuned differently. The net effect though is that the kit looks amazing out of the box. It’s something that will look great without any paint or detail work.

Speaking of details, there’s a ton! Over the whole kit there are a lot detail lines, extra bits, and areas where the frame is shown through. Well and far beyond most Bandai kits. Unfortunately the inner frame isn’t nearly as detailed and, in some areas, seems quite bland. They do spice things up by having multiple silver detail pieces that go between the frame and armor. More on those later.

When the Sazabi was fully announced many noticed the hefty price tag. The cost correlates to the size of the kit and the amount of pieces (over 480 by my count), most of which are quite large. The kit itself is quite large all together, standing taller than the formidable MG O. The MG RX-78-2 3.0 only comes up about waist high.